WOU Awarded $10,500,000 for National Center on Deaf-Blindness

by Dr. Ella Taylor

WOU’s Master of Arts in Interpreting Studies (MAIS) has won the 2013 University Professional & Continuing Education Association (UPCEA) West Region Outstanding Credit Program Award, which recognizes outstanding professional and continuing education programs allowing students to earn academic credit.

“External recognition from an organization like UPCEA is a powerful tribute to the work we do here at WOU in the MAIS. We are deeply honored and humbled to have received such an award,” said Dr. Elisa Maroney, coordinator of the MAIS program and president of the Commission on Collegiate Interpreter Education.

The MAIS program provides interpreters and interpreter educators advanced scholarship that focuses on theoretical, practical, and teaching applications to advance the standards and leadership of the interpreting profession via research, rigorous study and practice. The goals of this program are to provide professional interpreters with the opportunity for growth and development beyond the undergraduate level and to participate in observation, practice, and supervision; to add to a growing body of research on interpreting and interpreter education, and to develop highly qualified interpreter educators and leaders in the field of interpreting.

Interpreting professionals will take courses primarily online to enhance their experience and knowledge. These professionals will be uniquely skilled in helping students understand interpreting as a practice profession, educate the next generation on self evaluation and continued growth, and will be committed to seeing quality research to advance the profession. Professionals exit this program with excellent leadership skills to take the field to the next level.